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Technology Stocks : Network Appliance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DownSouth who wrote (663)	2/22/1999 6:02:00 PM
From: Charles E. Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

NTAP Recommendation: researchweek.com Chuck

To: DownSouth who wrote (663)	2/22/1999 8:32:00 PM
From: Miguel Octavio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

The P/E is a little high for my taste compared to their earnings growth, however, many think NTAP could become a new dominant company in its segment like MSFT or CSCO. However, I dont think any of these had such a high P/E on its way up. Miguel

To: DownSouth who wrote (663)	2/23/1999 10:08:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Respond to of 10934

Mirror Image Internet Unites Leading Caching Vendors in Global Industry Partnership Business Wire - February 23, 1999 07:49 WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 1999-- Network Appliance and Novell are Among the First to Partner with Mirror Image Internet to Deliver Comprehensive Caching Solutions to ISPs and Enterprises Mirror Image Internet, Inc., a leading provider of comprehensive caching services, today announced Network Appliance, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTAP) and Novell Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL) as charter members of the global "Mirror Image Ready" partnership program. This program was developed to jointly promote best-of-breed caching solutions to ISPs and enterprises by combining the benefits of single caching products with Mirror Image Internet's Central Cache Connection(tm) service. The Mirror Image Ready program allows caching vendors to maximize the performance of their individual products by utilizing the Mirror Image Internet Central Cache Connection - an open, cost-effective, easy-to-access, low maintenance service that doubles the performance of existing cache investments. "Our ISP customers are looking for performance, reliability and deployability. Mirror Image Internet's Central Cache receives high marks in each of these categories," said Edward Sharp, business development manager, NetCache, Network Appliance, Inc. "Partnering with Mirror Image Internet will allow our smaller customers to benefit from the scale advantage that Mirror Image Internet brings to deliver fast, reliable, high-performance service to their end-users." The Central Cache Connection helps avoid latency of long-haul requests by regionally serving most Web requests faster from the combined local/central caching system. This combination of high performance caching products with Mirror Image Internet's comprehensive caching services delivers the most powerful caching solution yet to address the increasing Internet demands of ISPs and enterprises. The program also enables Mirror Image Internet to coordinate an industry-wide protocol and technology development initiative to further extend the benefits of caching. "In our business, speed plus performance saves money. Mirror Image Internet's Central Cache Connection works with BorderManager Enterprise Edition 3, our high performance security management solution, to provide enterprise customers with faster access to Internet content. Additionally, it's a solution that can be easily integrated with our layered security framework," said Christopher Stone, senior vice president, Strategy and Corporate Development, Novell, Inc. "By partnering with Mirror Image Internet, we found a cost-efficient, highly effective way to quickly deliver caching services in a unique value-added solution to 4.5 million Novell Caching users-all without extensive up-front planning or additional hardware investments." Network Appliance(tm) and Novell are among the first of the leading industry cache vendors to have their caching products proven "Mirror Image Ready" by being completely interoperable with Mirror Image Internet's caching services. To be approved as "Mirror Image Ready," potential partners' caches are tested and must be compatible with Mirror Image Internet's caching services. Once approved, connecting a "Mirror Image Ready" cache to a Mirror Image Internet Central Cache can be handled within minutes over the phone. "We are pleased to be pioneering this partnership program within the caching industry to help Mirror Image Internet and our partner vendors provide complementary solutions to ISPs and enterprises worldwide," said Sverker Lindbo, founder and CEO of Mirror Image Internet, Inc. "This program also allows Mirror Image Internet to work with these companies to develop better standards within the caching market. We expect other vendors to follow suit and are confident the Mirror Image Ready program will be a success."

To: DownSouth who wrote (663)	2/24/1999 12:37:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10934

DS, et al. here's the latest skinny on the dell-network appliance OEM (sorta). -chris. ----- Dell dabbles in storage networks By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com February 23, 1999, 8:00 p.m. PT REDWOOD CITY, California--Dell Computer launched its first bundle of "storage area network" products for the voracious corporate sector. The new products, mostly other companies' offerings badged with the Dell logo, are the Round Rock, Texas, company's first effort in a relatively new approach to storage called storage area networks (SANs). So far, Dell offers only the smallest of SANs, allowing customers to attach up to four Windows NT-based servers to a single storage system. But the company plans to expand rapidly, executives said today. In a SAN, disk drives and tape libraries are housed in a central area separate from the servers, making it easier and cheaper to manage or expand the storage system. Fibre Channel interconnection technology, a fast connection scheme that can tie together devices several miles apart, provides a way to connect each server to the SAN without clogging the existing network. With modifications to Windows NT, the Dell SAN launched today can connect up to four Windows NT servers to 900GB (gigabytes) of disk storage as well as a digital tape library for backup. Programmers from Dell joined Microsoft in writing the extensions, which allow NT machines to share disk drives with other NT machines instead of trying to seize control of the entire array. The extensions will be folded into the upcoming Windows 2000, said Microsoft's Brian Ball, who attended today's rollout. Dell isn't first to the SAN market: Rivals include Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, and IBM. To make its SAN products stand out from the crowd, Dell plans to rely on its traditional method of beating competitors' prices, according to Michael Lambert, senior vice president of Dell's Enterprise Systems Group. For example, Dell will offer a Fibre Channel switch at about the price of competitors' lower-speed Fibre Channel hubs, and offer a dual-switch package at about the price of a single switch, Lambert said. By the second quarter of 1999, Dell will modify its Windows NT SAN product so more servers can plug in, while beginning to offer SANs that accommodate Unix systems, Lambert said. Unix support will come with the use of Network Appliance "filers," dedicated storage systems that can talk to both Unix and Windows systems. Both NT and Unix Dell SANs are intended to work with servers not made by Dell, Lambert said, although the Fibre Channel technology that underlies them hasn't ripened as much as SAN advocates would hope. Dell prefers to sell its SAN products as a package so the company can guarantee compatibility, Lambert noted. Several initiatives are under way to advance industry standards. Dell is a member of the Storage Networking Industry Association and the Fibre Channel Association, said Kevin Reinis, director of Dell's storage product marketing. EMC and Sun Microsystems have embarked on separate efforts. The Dell equipment will also be supported by several backup software makers, including Computer Associates, Legato, Seagate Software, Veritas, and Tivoli.